What Brothers Do
by Princess Angel Rose
Summary: In high school, Don stands up for Charlie. Oneshot. Rating is for some language and mild violence. Personally, if you are allowed to watch the show, you will be fine with the story.


Disclaimer: Is Sabrina Lloyd still on the show? No? That's your answer. I would've begged.

A/N: This is a fic about when Don and Charlie were in High School. Enjoy!

Don exited the lunchroom and, immediately, realized something was wrong, if the growing crowd chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" was any indication. He began to walk towards the pack, his pace quickening into a run as he realized what this could mean. All of his friends were trouble-makers and they could very well be in the middle of it. As he approached, he sliced through the throng and his blood ran cold as he reached the center. It was not, as he had originally feared, one of his friends, but someone far more important.

There, in a panic, stood a short, skinny, eleven-year-old boy with brown eyes and curly black hair. In front of him, fists clenched, stood 300 pound, six foot tall Johnny Reynolds, age eighteen.

The eighteen-year-old approached Charlie slowly, then lifted his fist to swing. However, before his knuckles could connect with Charlie's skin Don's voice ran out.

"Hold it!"

Everybody looked at him except Johnny, whose eyes never strayed from Charlie. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his brother's face. He knew Don would save him. Don always rescued him.

Sure enough, Don slipped out of the pack and in between his brother and the larger boy, as said larger boy backed away three large steps. Don's arms hung at his side loosely, though Charlie, who knew Don well, knew it was only a matter of time before his hands folded into fists identical to Johnny's. Johnny lowered his arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Me?" Don asked, with a deadly trace of amusement, such as one of a murderer asking his intended victim why he wouldn't get away with his crime. "I'm considering beating you to a bloody pulp. And you?"

"Out of the way, Eppes."

"What the _hell_ do you think you're going to do to my brother?" Don's voice had a dangerous edge. It was Charlie's first day there, though he was starting tenth grade with his brother, and Don was determined to make something clear. "_Nobody_," he said, fists forming, "hurts _my _brother when I'm here."

"Sorry Eppes," Johnny countermanded, though Don and Charlie could both tell that he was nothing of the sort. "Your _brother _needs to learn a lesson. For a genius, he's pretty damn stupid."

Don tightened his fists so that his knuckles gleamed white. He seemed angry to some, but Charlie knew better. Don was livid. An idiot, who couldn't _spell _mathematician, had just called his brother, a brilliant prodigy, stupid. _Stupid! _

"Yeah?" Don took a few steps forward, standing two feet away from Johnny. His voice was a little _too _calm. "What does Charlie need to learn?"

"_Charlie _needs to realize that when I want something, I get it."

Suddenly, Don understood. It was obvious, actually. Johnny had told Charlie to do his math homework and Charlie had refused, which, of course pulled the trigger on Johnny's rage. He instantaneously became very annoyed.

"Look, Johnny. There's only one stupid person in this circle, and I'm lookin' at him. Now, let's see if _you _learned something from this. Here's a review: _nobody _hurts Charlie."

"And what, exactly, are you plannin' on doin' to stop me?"

The fist came out of nowhere. It was a right hook aimed straight for the side of the face with all the power Don could muster. Everyone fell silent for a single moment in time as a crack, soft, but defiant, emitted from Johnny's jaw. The next seconds went by in a blur, as Johnny writhed in pain and his posse tackled Don to the ground. It was four on one, hardly a fair fight, but, despite a few bruises, Don fought them off well until a teacher came by to separate the fight.

"Don!" Charlie cried, running over to him as he made his way to the nurse's office as the teacher had ordered. "You okay?"

Holding his head, which was throbbing due to his hitting the blacktop cement, Don nodded. "What about you, buddy?"

"Fine. Are they gonna call mom and dad?"

"They have to," Don answered. "I broke a guy's jaw!"

"You did great! It was so cool!"

"Tell mom and dad that," Don retorted, with an amused smile, a good amused. "They'll actually listen to you."

With a laugh, the brothers entered the nurse's office. Instead of being invaded by his enemies, Don found the room devoid of any boys besides himself and Charlie.

"Afternoon, Mr. Eppes," the nurse greeted, her back turned. First day of school, and Don was in trouble already.

"Afternoon, Ms. Cadaway," the boys returned in unison. Don knew her from past experience, Charlie from tales of Don's school days.

After she checked Don, who was fine, except for a few bumps and bruises, gave him ice and, upon Don's insistence, looked over Charlie, there was a knock on the door. Upon opening it, the three found a freshman who was serving as an office assistant and who asked for "the Eppes brothers to come to the office, their parents are here." Don, holding the Merita bread bag of ice to his head, and Charlie made their way to the administration office. When they arrived, they realized their parents had already heard of the situation.

"What the _he—_"

"Alan," his wife said warningly.

Instead of the original question, Alan grilled his eldest son with a "What were you thinking?" as his wife held her youngest and stroked his hair.

"I…got mad."

Alan looked skeptical. "Mad?" he shot at Don. "From the way the story was told to me, you had to be pretty pi—"

"_Alan_."

Charlie rolled his eyes. He went to public high school. It wasn't like he'd never heard a cuss word before.

"So?"

"So? You break a guy's nose—"

"Jaw, actually," Charlie corrected. Don shot him a look that said clearly, "You're making things worse, so shut up."

"Both," Alan interjected, before continuing, "And all you have to say is _so_?"

Don rolled his eyes and began a speech he said every time he got into a fight. "I know what I did was wrong. I must learn to control my anger and not repay anyone with violence. Next time I will let a teacher handle it and not take the situation into my own hands. Did I cover everything?"

Don's mother gave him a disapproving look, though her eyes sparkled with laughter. She did this often, but usually it was to Charlie. It was very difficult for her to play the mom card when she loved to see her children happy.

"Look, I'm gonna take my car, other wise it won't get home. 'Kay?"

Alan opened his mouth to say something, but Mrs. Eppes got there first. "Okay. Charlie, are you riding with us or with Don?"

He looked at his parents, and then his brother, then back again, before his eyes rested on Don. He had a hopeful, almost pleading look in his eyes which, added to his idolism for Don, couldn't be refused. Don rolled his eyes and gave a swift nod, much to his brother's happiness. Charlie practically shouted his brother's name before both groups left in their respective cars.

"You broke a guy's _nose, _too?" Charlie asked on the ride home, amazed. "That's awesome!"

"Dad didn't think so," Don mused, as Charlie went into a stream of mathematical statistics mixed with an arrangement of sentences praises his big brother.

"Okay, okay, calm down!"

Charlie was silent for a moment, giving him enough time to wonder something. After looking thoughtful for a minute, he asked softly, "Why?"

Don looked at him strangely before asking what he meant. Charlie clarified: why had he been so quick to jump to his defense; why had he gotten so mad; why had he punched Johnny. Don seemed to zone out for a minute, then he said something that Charlie didn't think he'd forget.

"Charlie, let's get something straight. Sometimes, I get jealous of you. Sometimes, I resent you. Sometimes you annoy me. You're a genius and I'm pullin', like, a C in physics. You never get into trouble with mom and dad, no matter what you do. You follow me, you spy on me, and you go into my room without asking. But no matter what, you're my brother. I'm always going to love ya, buddy," he finished, ruffling Charlie's short curls. "Got it?"

Charlie smiled and nodded, using his hands to absent-mindedly brush his hair straight.

"I've got your back, Charlie. Don't forget that. Come to me if you ever need anything."

That night, Don walked into his room after having a tiring discussion with his parents, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep, through he had to have his trigonometry homework done that night. Even though he wasn't going to school the next day, his mom didn't want him getting behind. He wasn't very surprised to find the book opened to the correct page, with a notebook sheet covered in the answers to the problems that even looked like his hand-writing. The assignment book that the school gave everyone at the beginning of the year was opened to where he had written his assignment. Don smiled as he read the small writing next to the page numbers.

_'Right back at you, Don,' _it read, in a certain little brother's writing. _'I guess that's what brothers do.' _


End file.
